Maximum Twilight
by protector91
Summary: Fugitives once again, Max and co., plus Ari flee to Froks to rest up. Meanwhile, the Pack in La Push has just lost one of its members. How does the School tie into this, and what are they planning? Takes place during MR3 and Eclipse.
1. Fugitives Again

_**A/N: Special thanks to **_**xXSweetestXAngelXNightmareXx for betaing this story.**

**_Fang's POV_**

**You are reading Fang's Blog. Welcome!**

**Today's Date: Still too late!**

**You Are Visitor number: The counter is still broken, but trust me it's a very high number. Somewhere in the hundred millions, at least.**

**Prison Break**

**Good News everyone: we've escaped from the School for the second time. **

**Bad news: One of the School's flunkies came along for the ride. **

**His name is Ari and is the last of the School's old enforcers known as Erasers; part man, part wolf. He claims he's changed and wants to help us now, but I don't buy it. He did, after all, leave me for dead on a beach barely clinging to life. In an ironic twist of fate that was also where Max kissed me for the first time, but that's another story. **

**I don't know why Max has decided to trust him all of a sudden, but I truly believe this decision is going to back fire on her. A part of me is thinking of just leaving the flock, but my loyalties to Max prevent me from doing so. Besides someone has to make sure Ari doesn't pull anything. **

**We've temporarily settled down for the moment to rest up. We choose a pretty odd town to hide in; the sun is almost never in view due to a nearly everlasting cloud barrier. That's all I can say for now.**

**-Fang from somewhere in the U.S.**

"Nice blog," Ari said from behind me. "Minus the part where you think I'm still evil."

"Ari. How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to get a good picture of the reason why you hate me so much for joining the group."

"Oh, really? Let's hear your theory."

"You're jealous."

"Of what?" I asked, fighting back a laugh. Laughing isn't my style.

"You're jealous of the fact that there's someone else that can protect Max now. It's even worse that the person is _me._"

"You're delusional, Ari."

"Am I? I'm capable of doing whatever it takes to defend her, and let's not forget that I'm stronger than you'll _ever_ be Fang. I don't think anybody would miss you if you left."

That was the last straw for me. I jumped to my feet and went on the attack. I launched a punch at his side, but Ari parried the blow and shoved his open palmed hand into my chest. I felt myself get lifted off the ground and crashed into a nearby tree, breaking off part of it due to the impact.

Ari pulled me up by the collar and gave me a cold stare. "Don't try that again if you know what's good for you, Fang. You're lucky my loyalties lie with Max. Otherwise, you wouldn't be breathing right now." Ari let me drop and stalked back to the campsite.

My fists tightened and I ground my teeth. For a second I wanted to go after him again. His words stung; more than I'd ever let him know. I shouldn't be feeling this way. Hell, when I was first brought into this world I didn't feel anything all.

The School designed me to be the perfect soldier with no emotions to hold me back. I'd obey any and all orders, no matter what they were. My first test was to fight the School's toughest guards. I took them both down in one minute flat. Week after week it was nothing, but fight, fight, fight, and fight again. I didn't know what it was like to feel emotion or anything else for that matter.

That all changed during my 100th test. They ordered me to kill my opponent this time, but I couldn't bring myself too. To say that the white coats were baffled would be an understatement. They were completely and utterly shocked and at a loss for words. No one had any sort of explanation for my actions or lack thereof as it would be; no one that is except for Jeb. He told them why he believed I refused to act and so the scientists tested his theory by having the guards attack my target. Something inside of me went into overdrive when they beat her and I found myself yelling "Max!" I broke both guards' necks and saw Jeb with the biggest grin on his face.

"You have just witnessed firsthand that my theory is correct," He said after Max was taken out of the room. "This male hybrid has grown emotionally attached to this female hybrid." The emotionless bastards started piling over scenarios of how this could've happened, but the only ones that knew the truth were me and Max.

Unbeknownst to them, Max had been breaking out of her dog crate multiple times over the past several weeks to see more of the School. She stopped by my dog crate and said 'Hi'. Being the Vulcan that I was, all I did was stare at her. Max broke through the silence by talking about how much she despised this place and that one way or another she was going to escape even it killed her. She said she saw me fight and that she could use someone like me to make her escape when the time came. As the weeks went by, I became more intrigued by this rebel without a cause up until the day that Jeb took us away from the School. Of course, I'd never tell Max this. I'd never hear the end of it.

"You most certainly would not."

Oh, Crap. "You _know _how I feel about you reading my mind, Angel," I half-growled, not turning around.

"Sorry Fang," Angel apologized in that agonizingly sweet voice of hers.

"Drop the act," I said. If there's one person that could see through that cute facade of Angel's, it was me.

"It's not my fault the only way to understand you is to get inside your head. I had no idea you've loved Max for that long."

"It's complicated, Ange," I tried to dismiss. _Tried_ being the key word.

"If you feel that way about Max, you should tell her."

"Believe me, Angel. Max does not feel the same way."

"She kissed you on that beach."

"That was a spur of the moment, 'I think you're going to die' situation."

"What about the cave?"

"Stop reading my mind," I hedged.

"Whatever you say, Fang. But you better tell her before something bad happens. When you live our life, the next day could always be the last." And then she skipped back to join the others. I silently walked back to the camp site and sat beside Max. I watched her as she slept and ran my hand through her blonde hair.

* * *

**_Jake's POV_**

_'She chose him. She actually chose him. I can't believe she'd go with some guy that she barely knows,_' I thought continuously as I worked on a motorcycle for no particular reason. If it wasn't for that stupid truce between us and the Cullen's, I would have ripped Edward's head off the minute I joined the pack. But if I did it now Bella would never look at me the same way again.

_Bella._ What did she see in that skin sparkling, blood sucking, _leech_! ? He's dangerous. He'll always hunger for her blood and yet Bella stayed with him despite that. I wish she picked me. I wished so badly that she would pick me; if the phone hadn't rung when we were about to kiss maybe she would have. But I can't dwell on the past now can I?

"Jacob."

I paused for a half a second, then continued with the bike, "Jeff. What do you want? Or rather, what does _Sam_ want?"

"Sam wants you to stop sulking for one thing, Jacob. He said to say, 'You need to let this Bella thing go so it won't interfere with your duties to the pack', and he's right. Your attitude is bringing everyone else down, too." he stated simply, and headed into the forest without another word.

_Let it go._ I couldn't let her go even if I wanted to.

* * *

**_3rd person_**

"Why do I get the feeling that guy is going to try and kill Sam one of these days?" Jeff wondered traversing through the forest. While he ran through it he heard something rustling in the trees. "Who's there?" He called out. When he received no response he shifted into his wolf form. The predator observed its prey from the tree tops grinning widely.

"This won't last long," the predator thought and pounced on top of the young werewolf. His growls quickly turned to whimpers as he was torn apart.

* * *

**_Alice's POV_**

"Um Alice. Not that I'm unused to you always being in a cheerful mood or anything, but why are you smiling so hard?" Bella asked me, taking a seat on the edge of my bed.

"Why do you think?"

"I don't know. That's why I'm asking."

"I know Edward asked you to marry him and I couldn't be happier," I squealed, jumping on Bella.

"How exactly did you know about that?" Bella asked, pushing me off of her.

"Psychic, remember?"

"Oh yeah," Bella muttered, "Can you at least do me and Edward a favor and not mention this to anyone else. He's trying to wait for the right time." I was about to respond when all of my surroundings faded back and everything went dark around me. I could hear Bella's voice in the background, but I was too focused on my vision to listen to her.

"Alice? What did you see?" Bella asked when I came back into reality.

"I'm not sure. The whole vision was blurry. I couldn't make it all out."

"What do you remember?"

"It was snowing and there were these two people. I don't know who they were, but they were both female. One said that they had a common enemy and perhaps they could work together."

Before we could continue our conversation, Bella's phone started to ring.

"Hello?" She answered.

"_Bella, It's Jake."_

"Oh, hey! What's wrong? You sound pretty serious."

"_Pack member was killed. Torn to pieces."_

"What?"

"_Yeah. We could use your brains around here." _

"Okay, hold on. I'll be right there." She turned to me, "It was Jake."

"I know. You want a ride to the border, don't you?" It wasn't truly a question.

"A member of the pack was killed. He wants me to help him find out who did it. What am I supposed to do, refuse?" Bella asked, heading out the door.

"You know he'll most likely blame Edward for this." I warned.

"I know, but Jake's still my friend."

"Good evening Director Janssen."

"Jeb. I thought I made it clear that I was not to be disturbed," the Director stated watching the monitor of Max's escape.

"I'm just here to inform you that all the Flyboys have reported in. No trace of Max has been found."

"Then why are you here telling me this when you should be figuring out ways to track them down?" The Director asked not turning around.

"I figured you should know. You should also know that when Max escapes it's usually hard to catch her again."

"I know my daughter better than anyone; even you Jeb. After an escape like this she'll choose the most secluded place she can find to recuperate."

"You know Max isn't your daughter Director." For the first time since he entered her office, the Director turned around.

"You would know all about it wouldn't you, Jeb? Especially since you went behind Itex's back and picked another to donate the egg that created Max. You know it was always supposed to be me."

"Forgive me Director, but I believed that Max needed the DNA of somebody…pure."

"Get out of my sight this instant," She ordered.

"Understood," Jeb said and left her office. Once Jeb left Marian Janssen sat back at her desk and looked back at the monitor.

"You can run Max, but you can't hide. Not from me. With all those injuries you sustained you'd have to stop someplace close." She brought up a map of the United States and checked to see the most secluded spots within a few hours away from the School. Once she finished she picked up her phone and started to dial. "Jeb. You can thank me for doing your job later. I have a few leads on our missing hybrids. I want you to release the newest subject to track her down."

**BETA'S NOTE:**

**Hey, guys. Its xXSweetestXAngelXNightmareXx, the beta for this story. Its my first beta-ing job, so I can say that I'm fairly excited. Hope you enjoy reading this story.**


	2. Nine Lives

_Bella's POV_

"This is as far as I can take you without breaking the truce," Alice informed me, bringing the car to a stop.

"It's not too much farther. I should be able to make it on foot. Thanks for the ride," I thanked, giving her a quick hug.

"Anytime. Just watch yourself, okay? I don't think I could live with myself if you got killed."

"Alice, I might not be on the best of terms with the pack, but I don't think they'd hurt me."

"It's not the pack I'm worried about. It's what killed the pack member that has me concerned about your safety."

"Don't be worried about me Alice. I can handle myself. I'll see you back at the house," I replied as I exited Alice's car. She gave me a brief wave and a wide smile, then headed back down the road. Truth be told, I wished she could come along with me because quite frankly I'm scared. It had been a few short months since my near run in with Victoria during my cliff diving experience. If Jake hadn't rescued me from the water who knows what would've happened.

I'd come so close to death so many times during Edward's absence and all because I was so desperate to see him again. Now that I think back, was it worth it? Doing all those dangerous stunts? And why was I seeing Edward every time I did? Was I hallucinating or was he somehow reaching me from wherever the heck he disappeared to? A part of me wants to ask him, but there's a nagging feeling in the back of my head that he won't tell if he does know.

I decided to focus on the here and now at this moment and continued onward. As I pushed through the woods I had a strange sense that there was someone watching me. Maybe I'm just being paranoid. You'd be, too, if you lived in a world where werewolves and vampires existed. What's next? Bird people? Yeah, that'll be the day!

"Bella." Jake's voice caught my attention and broke me out of my inner monologue. He was leaning against the side of the house. He looked as if he hadn't seen me in months and I almost thought I saw a longing look in his eyes.

"Hello Jacob. So, if you don't mind me asking, which member of the pack was killed?" I asked.

"It was Jeff. He went off on his own last night and never came back. We went out to look for him and discovered his body, or what was left of it, about an hour later."

"Do you think Victoria was behind this?" I questioned, wanting to avoid him blaming Edward.

"No," he responded. "If it was, I would've smelled her. You wanna know what the weird thing about all this is?"

"What?"

"After I found his body, I went to tell the others. When I brought them to the place I'd found him, he was gone.

"Gone? Who could've taken him? And why, for that matter?"

"That's the weirdest part. Upon finding Jeff I caught the faintest traces of another wolf's scent."

"You think a member of the pack could've done this?"

"It wouldn't be the first time a member of the pack was attacked by one of his own. Wouldn't you agree, Jake?" Sam said joining the conversation.

"You know that was an accident Sam," Jake said not breaking his eye contact with me. "In case you've forgotten he was in the process of trying to kill Bella."

"Ms. Swan here wouldn't have gotten in that mess if she'd just minded her own business," Sam said to me. I narrowed my eyes at him and in response he showed his wolf teeth at me and stormed off.

"I'm sorry about Sam. He's pretty gun-ho about us remaining a secret," Jake said once the ever intimidating leader of the pack disappeared from view.

"I seem to have that effect on people. You should've seen how the Volturi reacted to me knowing about Edward."

"You've seen the Volturi?" Jake asked me. "What'd they do to you?"

I came close to telling him about how they said I had to be turned or they'd kill me, but I knew that would give him more reason to worry. "Nothing," I lied.

* * *

Max's POV

I felt so safe; so safe and warm. It felt so nice compared to my usual feelings of dread that we're going to get caught and killed by the school again. When the smell of something burning filled my nostrils I woke up from the best sleep I've had in months and saw why it was possible. Fang was asleep next to me and one of his wings was covering me. I reached towards him and lightly caressed his cheek. Fang began to stir and I quickly withdrew my hand before he woke up.

"Glad to see you're awake," Ari said to me sitting in front of an open fire.

"What smells like dog?" I asked. "Whoops. Sorry Ari. I didn't mean," I began to apologize.

"No problem Max. It's not me. It's what I found actually," he said pointing to an animal behind him. My eyes widened in surprise at what I saw. A massive wolf was lying on the ground, badly mutilated.

"Ari. Did you kill this thing?" I asked.

"No. It was dead when I found it. Something else got to it before I did."

"Do you think the School might've sent it here?" I asked due to the wolf's large size.

"Doubt it. The Erasers were the only wolf type experiments conducted by the school."

"Speaking of the school I wonder if they've started looking for us again," Fang said now fully awake.

"This is a pretty secluded town; probably the last place the school would think to check," I said to him.

* * *

There was a knock at the door to the Director's office. "Come in," she said. A young girl, who looked around the age of 17, stepped inside the Director's office. She had black hair that descended to her shoulders, blue jeans, a white shirt, and a leather jacket. She also had multiple scars over her hands from the years she had spent in the School. "Please take a seat, Mara," the Director offered.

"Jeb said you have an assignment for me," Mara said sliding into her chair and crossing her legs. "I almost didn't believe him when he told me considering how you only deployed the Erasers into the field up to now."

"Believe it Mara. The Erasers are yesterday's assassins and the Flyboys aren't exactly this organization's most reliable investment."

"So why me? Why not just use Omega?"

"Omega is still undergoing rigorous testing and even if he wasn't he doesn't blend in well. The School cannot be exposed to the public just yet. You, however, are one of our most promising creations as we we're able to make you without an expiration date."

"You sure know how to flatter a girl, Ms. Janssen," Mara said leaning on one of her arms. "Alright, I'm in. What do you need me to do?"

"Our avian/human hybrids recently escaped the facility," the Director began.

"You mean Max and her cohorts," Mara cut her off.

"Yes. They pose a potential danger to the School as they could expose us and ruin everything we have worked to accomplish thus far," the Director explained.

"So I take it you want me to kill them," She guessed.

"All of them except for Max. I have something _special _planned for her."

"Too bad," Mara said in mock disappointment. "I can still rough her up a bit though, right?"

"You can bring her in any way you wish, but she is to not be killed. Am I making myself clear?" She asked threateningly.

"You can relax, Director. I won't do any lasting damage to your pet," Mara said standing out of her chair to leave.

"I should warn you, though; Max can be somewhat difficult to take on. She's killed some of our strongest Erasers in the past."

"That the difference between them and me though," Mara sad turning back around to face Director Janssen. "I have nine lives," she finished; her eyes color changing to a piercing yellow.


	3. Close Call

**Welcome to Fang's Blog**

**Hey Fang. Glad to hear you made it out of The School again! I was starting to worry about you guys when you stopped updating your blog. Wherever you are I'm sure you're having better luck than where I am. Just recently people have been vanishing all over Seattle without a trace. For all I know The School could be behind this whole ordeal. Stay safe.**

**- Bree Tanner **

**Bree, **

**I wouldn't put the disappearances behind The School just yet, though it does seem right up their alley. Watch your back and avoid all dark alleys if you can help it.**

**- Fang**

I closed my laptop and slumped against the back of a tree. This was our third straight night hiding out in the woods. Nudge was about to lose it and I'm pretty sure 50% of the forest's wild life has been eradicated by Gasman's explosives, which naturally made hunting for Ari to be difficult. Like I cared about the dog.

I couldn't stand this sitting around anymore and felt an urge to go out and stretch my wings a bit. So I did just that; after making sure that Max was asleep, I walked about fifty feet away from the campfire where everyone was gathered.

I soared high up and broke through the cloud barrier. One could only imagine why there was a nearly everlasting cloud barrier over this town. It was almost like some sort of plot device. As I continued to think something else shot out of the cloud barrier and zipped past me. It then spun around and rocketed towards me, coming to miss by me by only an inch.

"Going out for a little spin, I see," Max said to me. _Max_. I'd never say it to her, but she looked absolutely beautiful in the light of the moon.

"I got bored just waiting in the forest," I explained, not taking my gaze off her. Max gave me a smile and started to float in the opposite direction.

"Can't catch me!" She taunted and sped off; me following closely behind. I closed the gap between us and was about to catch her when Max looked over her shoulder, waved at me, and vanished from the spot. I nearly stopped dead in the air dumbstruck by how fast Max had become. Max suddenly came out of nowhere again and zoomed past me. My world literally spun from the back draft she generated. I saw her coming around for another pass and I smirked.

_Two can play at this game,_ I focused on blending in with my surroundings. Max nixed the speed and looked around for me. _Time for my practice to pay off_, I thought. I had previously been unable to stay invisible and move at the same time, but I had been training myself since then. Concentrating, I slowly flew behind the unsuspecting Max and put her into my grip. "Caught ya," I smirked, holding her close.

"Not for long," she said, and broke out of my grip and shot downward. I pursued her, but Max came to a near stop at the last second causing me to crash into her. We careened through the trees and crashed into the dirt. I shook my hair free of the dirt and looked down at a beaming Max.

"Very funny," I muttered not getting off of her. I reached forward and wiped some of the dirt off her face. Even dirty she looked amazing.

"Fang? Are you… are you alright?" She asked me. Her voice cracked a bit.

"Yeah. Are you? We made a pretty hard landing," I said; my own breathing getting ragged. Max reached up and lightly stroked my face and then an invisible force pulled us toward each other. Our lips we're about to touch when the forest shook snapping me out of Max's transfixing gaze. We moved off one another and heard the sound of approaching feet; and smelled an unbearable scent. That could mean only one thing.

"Gassy; if you're going to practice that power of yours there won't be any life left in this forest," Max said.

"Where am I supposed to practice?" The Gasman asked walking into our sight.

"Anywhere, but here," I had a hard time not breathing in the toxic fumes.

"Was I interrupting something?" He asked innocently.

"No!" Max and I answered simultaneously

"Ok," Gazzer seemed satisfied, and took off.

"Guess we better get back to the campsite," Max suggested.

"Yeah. I guess so," I replied, trying to keep the disappointment out of my voice.

* * *

Ari had been hunting through this forest for about a half hour now, but still had no luck. He'd come across plenty of smaller animals, but what he needed to find was another one of those giant wolves. He climbed atop one of the trees and tried to pick out a scent similar to that of the other wolf. After a minute had passed he finally caught something. Ari began jumping from tree to tree; the wolf's scent increasing with each jump.

"Jacob."

Ari ceased his advance, jumped to the ground, and hid behind a tree. He peered around it and saw two other people.

"Bella. You shouldn't be out here by yourself," Jake said.

"I shouldn't? What about you?" Bella asked.

"That kid. He smells just like a wolf; could he be an Eraser?" Ari wondered. "But that's impossible. The Eraser's were all wiped out, except for me."

"I can handle whatever's out here," Jake cockily said.

"Really? Did Jeff ever say things like that?"

"Bella. You don't have to worry about me…"

"No," she cut off. "I _do_ have to worry about you. You saw what that thing did to Jeff. I don't know what I'd do if the same thing happened to you." Bella said sincerely. Jake reached forward and pulled Bella into a hug. She rested her head on his chest while he slowly rocked her.

"Bella," he whispered. "That thing is here. I can smell it. It can't be more than a few feet away," he warned. Jake felt Bella go stiff against him. He looked down at her and saw her eyes widen in fear. "I need you to turn around and walk away. Don't look back no matter what you may hear."

"Are you…"

"Yes, I'm sure. Don't look back. Understand?"

"But what about you?"

"I'll be fine Bella." He said and then unexpectedly leaned forward and quickly kissed her. Bella's eyes widened even further and she walked away; fingers touching her mouth.

"I shouldn't have done that," Jake berated himself once Bella was out of sight. He turned his focus back on picking up the scent again. Lucky for him it hadn't grown faint; in fact it hadn't moved at all.

Ari saw Jake moving in his direction and backed out of his hiding place and sprinted off. Jake heard him and gave chase. Ari got on all fours and increased his speed while Jake ascended one of the trees and leapt from tree to tree to catch him. Ari looked over his shoulder and saw Jake was about to catch him. Nearly on top of him Jake jumped out of the tree to pounce on Ari; Ari halted his escape and lashed out at Jake; his claws cut into the side of Jake's face knocking him into a rock. Jake's jaw clamped down from the impact. He fell off the rock onto his knees and rubbed the side of his face; he saw blood on his palm. _What was that thing?_ He thought, pushing himself off the ground.

* * *

_Max's POV_

_I can't believe that Fang almost kissed me,_ I thought walking into the town of Forks to clear my head a bit. Actually I can believe it to be honest and if he had I wouldn't have stopped him this time. I love him, but I can't bring myself to admit it to his face and I don't know why either. I walked into a parking lot, but stopped when I heard something. The sounds of motorcycle engines echoed throughout the parking lot. Five guys on motorcycles circled and surrounded me.

"You lost lady?" One of them asked; a metal chain wrapped around his arm.

I overlooked these goons eyeing me like I was dessert or something stupid like that.

"Listen," I said. I don't want any trouble so why don't you guys just drive off and we won't have any sort of problems. Ok?" I finished.

"You've got trouble now, girlie," one of them said, pulling out a knife. "Hand us all your money and we just might let you go," he threatened. I couldn't believe this was happening. No matter where I go trouble never seems to be too far behind. Well at least with this kind of trouble I don't have to worry about getting killed. I cracked my knuckles and got ready to attack these losers when someone else stepped out of the shadows.

"You know it's not nice to attack a person in the middle of the night," A woman with curly, red hair said, stepping into their circle.

"Who are you?" I asked the mysterious girl.

"Name's Victoria. You?"

"Friends call me Max," I responded as we stood back to back. "Why are you helping out a total stranger?"

"Wouldn't be nice of me to ignore someone in danger, would it?" she replied.

"I can handle these guys on my own," was my answer to that.

"OK! Enough talk! Let' do this!" One of the bikers yelled revving up his engine.

"You've got help now," Victoria said to me as the other bikers revved their engines up as well. Two of them unwrapped the chains around their arms and swung them at me. The chains wrapped around my own arms and the bikers sped off in two different directions.

"Please," I muttered, grabbed the chains, and yanked the two guys off their bikes. They collided with each other and were out cold. One of the bikers attempted to run Victoria over, but she leapt over him like it was nothing. She landed on the back of his bike and shoved him off; his face roughly colliding with the street. His forehead bleed freely as he lost consciousness. The two others stepped off their bikes and pulled out knives. I back flipped over to one of them and kicked him in the chest. I felt one of his ribs crack from the blow.

One of them pulled out a gun, but Victoria dodged all his shots, kicked the gun out of his hand punched him directly in the rib cage; the blow shattering it entirely. He collapsed to the street howling in pain. I cracked my knuckles again and observed the damage done. I turned to my ally and a thought occurred to me.

"So what's your story?" I asked Victoria.

"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours," she responded, making it clear that I would have to be the first one to spill.

"Fair enough. Thanks for helping me deal with these guys," I thanked and walked out of the parking lot.

* * *

_Victoria's POV_

I watched Max wander off and when the sound of her footsteps died out I put two fingers in my mouth and let out a high pitched whistle. Five of my vampire colleagues jumped into the parking lot and landed next to me. "Help yourselves," I said to them. The vamps brandished their gleaming smiles and attacked the humans.

"So who was that girl?" One of the others asked me.

"Max. Maximum Ride," I replied. She'd finally arrived in Forks.

* * *

_Mara's POV_

"Rain; I hate rain," I thought as the storm raged on above me. So far my search for the bird kids had turned up zilch and now this storm has forced me to take an unexpected detour in Seattle. I figured that I might as well see if anyone has seen them here. I walked into a near-deserted internet café and decided to ask around. "I'm looking for these people," I said pulling out a photo of the flock. "Have you seen them?"

"I might have," Bree responded.

"Where?" I asked noticing her looking at my scars.

"I don't see any reason I should tell you," she replied and went back to her computer. I snatched her wrist and sank my claws into it. "I'm not one to mess with, girl," I sneered.

"My name is Bree," she said back; teeth clenched from my claws in her skin. Figuring this was a lost cause I let go of her and stepped back into the rain. Despite the pouring rain and thunder I heard something crash in a nearby alleyway. My attention caught I walked into it and saw a young girl lying on the street; she was whimpering as a man was bent over her.

"What are you doing?" I asked. The man stopped and looked at me; his mouth was drenched in blood. "What are you? Some sort of Vampire?"

"My name is Riley and that's all you need to know," he said and charged me. I leapt over him and delivered a spin kick to his back. Riley fell over, but quickly got back on his feet. I pounced on him and scratched at his face with my claws. He brutally shoved me off him into the side of a building. He rushed at me, but I jumped into the air to dodge his attack; his fist connected with the wall and created a three inch deep crater. I grabbed him from behind and tossed him into a dumpster.

He picked himself up and growled at me furiously, while I hissed at him and charged him. I ducked a punch and linked my legs around his neck slamming him into the concrete behind me. He grabbed me by the jacket and hurled me upwards into a window, which shattered on contact.

I jumped out and spit out some blood from my mouth earning a ravenous look from Riley. He ran at me at a definitely inhuman speed and knocked me onto the same dumpster. He then grabbed a handful of my jacket and yanked me off the aforementioned dumpster onto the street. I leapt up and kicked him in his throat with all my strength. He gagged slightly; stumbling away from me as he did, but he was still standing.

What _was_ he? I've never seen anyone that could withstand that kick.

Knowing I wouldn't win in my condition, I decided to quit while I was still ahead. Sparing one last glance at Riley, I turned and retreated as fast as I could.

* * *

Bree's POV

'_There was no mistaking it. That girl was from The School,'_ I thought as I observed her retreating from that fight. "But who was the other guy?" I wondered. He growled slightly and looked in my direction. I moved out of sight and hid in a nearby building. I quickly took out my laptop and accessed Fang's Blog.

**Fang!**

**I saw one; one of The School's hybrids was her in Seattle. Where ever you guys are, you need to stay alert because she's on the hunt and from what I saw she's a pretty good fighter. She is white, has black hair, appears to be seventeen and has scars all over her hands.**

**- Bree**

I sent the message and shut down my computer. But when I did somebody roughly turned me around. It was the guy from before.

"I don't like being spied on," Riley said keeping a firm grip on me. "Haven't you ever heard the age old expression curiosity killed the cat?"

"You're going to kill me," I said more as a statement than a question.

"No. I had something better planned," he said, and bent into my neck.

There was pain. Nothing but pain.

**A/N: What could Victoria have in mind for Max? Keep reading to find out the answers. Thanks to the people who have reviewed the story thus far. See ya all soon!**


	4. Clarity

_**Alice's POV**_

**We have a common enemy. Perhaps we could work together.**

"Alice?"

My eyes opened at the sound of Edward's voice. "Come in Edward," I said sitting at the foot of my bed.

"Alice; you've been acting weird these last few days. Is something troubling you?" He asked being the caring person that he is.

"You're the mind-reader," I replied. "You tell me."

"I wouldn't want to invade the privacy of your mind, Alice," he said. I raised an eyebrow.

"Are you serious? You invaded my thoughts for like an entire month when we first met," I said smirking a little.

"You're never going to let that go are you?" He asked smiling as well.

"Not on your life," I responded lying down on the bed.

"So do you want to tell me what's wrong?" He asked me.

I sighed. I knew he wasn't going to let this go so I caved and answered him. "It's this vision I had. It's driving me insane. It's the first time I've ever had a blurry vision before and I'm worried about what it could mean." I answered finally; gazing absent-mindedly at the ceiling.

"Can you tell me what you could at least make out?"

"All I could see were two women; one of them mentioned something about a common enemy and how they could work together. I couldn't see their faces and I couldn't make out her voice. It was also snowing," I said running my hand down my face. "I'm worried Edward. What if the common enemy they share is us?"

"You're worrying too much," Edward tried to comfort me, but I could tell from his voice. He was worried as well.

* * *

_**Bree's POV**_

Ok, so here's a recap of what's happened to me in the last couple of hours. I just recently informed the creator of a blog named Fang that people were vanishing all over Seattle without a trace. A few hours later I ran into one of the hybrids of an organization known as the School, which was on the hunt for him and his friends. Roughly two minutes after that I saw her engaged in a fight with someone else which ended in a standoff. After sending Fang a message warning him to be on the lookout for the hybrid, the man I now know to be Riley snuck up on me and bit into my neck for spying on him.

Flashforward several hours. I was now being roughly dragged by him towards an abandoned warehouse on the other side of town. I have no idea what he did to me. I felt hungry; very hungry. He kicked open the door to the warehouse and tossed me down to the floor. I looked up and saw many other people in here as well. What scared me was that their skin was pale white and their eyes… their eyes were blood red.

"Who's the new recruit?" I heard one them ask.

"Someone whose curiosity got the better of her," Riley responded.

"How much venom did you pump into her?" Another asked. What were they talking about?

"Enough for the change to be quick," Riley said. Change? What change?

I directed my gaze away from him and down at some broken glass. I saw my reflection and my mouth hung open. My skin was as white as theirs. I put a hand up to my check and gasped at the feeling of my skin; it was ice cold. What's more my eyes were blood red just like everyone else.

"What did you do to me?" I asked. Riley didn't answer my question. "What did you do to me! ?" I shouted this time and ran at him at a speed I didn't even know I could reach. Riley rolled his eyes and I found myself getting pinned up on the wall.

"To put it simply, girl," he said tightening his grip around my neck and raising me further up the wall.

"It's Bree," I managed to get out and he punched me in the mouth. The blow stung and I thought I heard something crack.

"As I was saying to put it simply you're a vampire now."

"You're joking right? A vampire," I chuckled nervously not wanting to believe what he said.

"How do you explain your skin or your eyes for that matter?" Riley asked.

"I don't believe you," I said.

"Well I think I know a way we can convince you," he snapped his fingers and two men stepped into the building holding a struggling woman. Her mouth was taped over and her hands were bound together. One of them kneed her in the gut and forced her to the floor. They dragged her all the way over to me and Riley; he nodded and they ripped off a portion of her skin from her arm. Despite the tape, her screams filled up the entire warehouse and tears poured non-stop out of her eyes. Riley let me go and grabbed her hair and forced her to look at me. I could see the fear etched clearly on her face, but despite my desire to help her something else distracted me; a scent that was quickly overwhelming me. I looked at the blood still flowing from her arm and my breathing quickened; next thing I knew started to growl at her. I wanted… blood.

I knelt down and grabbed her arm while she continued to plead with me not to do it. I wanted to stop, but I couldn't help myself and sank my teeth into her skin. The feeling of her blood rushing through my body felt good when I suddenly realized what I was doing and yanked my teeth out of her skin. Riley released her and let her cry on the floor while I wiped my mouth and teeth clear of the blood. I couldn't believe I had just done that.

"You bitch!" I screamed at Riley. "Look what you've done to me!" Two of the vampires held me back from him while he smirked at me. "Dig in," he said to a few of the others, who also smiled and began to feast on her. I could only watch in horror. I was just like them now; a monster.

* * *

_**Max's POV**_

"OK guys," I began as the snow began to fall. "As you can see, or not see in your case Iggy," I joked.

"I'm laughing on the inside," he deadpanned.

"Anyway as I was saying, as you can see it's starting to snow," I started again. "We can't continuously stay out here anymore."

"Are you saying we can finally go into town?" Nudge asked me. "Because I don't think I can last another minute in this forest," she complained.

"Yes, Nudge," I answered and received a giant bear hug from her as a result.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" She rapidly thanked me.

"You're welcome Nudge," I replied pushing her off me.

We left the forest and headed into the town of Forks. The first place Nudge wanted to go to was, of course, the mall. Iggy and Gassy trekked on over to a nearby hardware store (after I gave them strict orders not to blow anything up that is) and Fang decided to go off on his own. To where I don't know and before I had a chance to ask him he vanished from sight. This being able to blend in with his surroundings thing is seriously starting to creep me out.

"It creeps us all out, Max," Angel said.

"What did I tell you about reading my mind, Angel?" I said.

"Sorry," she sweetly apologized. Next thing I knew me, Nudge, Angel, and Ari, who kept his hood up to keep most of his head obscure, were all at the nearest mall. I made it very clear to Nudge that she was allowed to buy only one new outfit, which she pouted about but none the less agreed to. Ari decided to go for a walk.

"Hey! Somebody stop him!" I heard a girl shout. We whipped around at the voice and saw a man racing for the exit with two girls on his tail. As soon as he got within a few feet of us I threw out a kick that connected with his chest sending him to the floor.

"Thanks," the girl thanked me while taking back her backpack from the still unconscious man. "I'm Bella," she introduced extending her hand.

"Max," I said taking and shaking it.

"I'm Angel," she said in that trademark good girl act of her's. Ok it's not entirely an act, but ever since I learned about that whole other side of Angel I haven't been able to look at her the way I used to back before she got kidnapped.

"And I'm Tiffany," Nudge said using that alias of her's. "Nice jacket," she complimented the girl standing beside Bella.

She smiled and said, "Thanks. You're clothes are nice too. I'm Alice."

Before you could say up, up, and away those two immediately started to go on about clothes up to the point where Nudge said that since I didn't like to shop could Alice help her find a new outfit. After silently thanking God, I said as long as it's ok with Bella, who seemed to be here with Alice. Bella was ok with it and the two fashion enthusiasts stepped into the nearest clothing shop.

"Didn't know Alice had a clone," Bella joked

"Let's hope they don't start multiplying," I laughed.

"I haven't seen you around Forks before," Bella said as we leaned over the second floor railing.

"Just flew into town," I joked though of course she wouldn't understand. "My family and I travel a lot. We never stay in the same place for long."

"So what do you think of Forks thus far?" Bella asked me.

"It's very...secluded," I answered her getting an odd lok as a result.

"Bella," I heard someone say from behind us. We turned around and I saw a guy who had skin as white as that Victoria girl from a last night.

"Edward," Bella said. "What are you doing her? Is something wrong?" She asked.

"I came here to see Alice," he said, but he kept looking at me for some reason.

"Ok well I see this is an important matter between you two so I'll just be on my way," I said starting to turn around. "Tell Tiffany that I'll be waiting for her outside the mall. It was nice meeting you," I said to her and started to jog off. The sooner I got out of this crowded area the better.

"It was nice meeting you too!" She called back. I smiled, waved, and sprinted off.

* * *

_**Bella's POV**_

"Why do you need to see Alice?" I asked Edward as we walked down to the first floor of the mall.

"It's about one of her visions that she's been having recently. She hasn't been able to make it out fully yet. Has she had any visions since you two arrived here?" Edward asked me.

"None that I'm aware of? Why?"

"That girl you were talking to; I read her thoughts. She was thinking of Victoria." I froze when I heard that name. The mere mention of Victoria was always enough to send chills up my spine. She and I had come so close to meeting again during my cliff diving experience. If Jake hadn't pulled me out of the water when he did, Victoria would probably be torturing me now.

"Are you sure it's the same Victoria?" I asked not wanting to believe she might be back in Forks.

"She mentioned the color of her skin being the same as mine; it's definetly her."

"But why would she think of Victoria? She didn't look like a vampire to me," I said wiping some sweat from my forehead.

"I don't know Bella. I honestly don't know."

* * *

_**Jake's POV**_

_"It shouldn't be that hard to find whatever killed the member of my pack,"_ I thought as I searched the place.

Me and the others had covered every section of the forest and found zip. So I figured I might have a bit more luck in the town. While I continued to walk someone roughly bumped into me. My nostrils became overwhelmed by the person's scent. There was no mistaking it. I started walking forward when the guy must've seen me out of the corner of his eye because he took off running.

"You're not getting away this time," I said and ran after him. He ran into a crowd attempting to throw me off, but I pushed and shoved my way through. There was no way I was losing him again! I chased after him around a corner then he shoved someone in front of me. I collided with the person and we both fell to the floor.

"Watch where you're run… Jacob?"

"Bella." I looked up and saw the guy disappearing into another crowd; shit.

"Why were you running?" She questioned me as I got off her.

"It was that guy that killed the member of my pack."

"Well I suggest you get running again before you completely loose him," Edward said trying to get rid of me.

"I don't believe I was talking to you Cullen," was my response.

"Hold it right there you two," Bella said standing in between me and Edward. "Listen Edward, I need to talk to Jake about something."

"You do?" Edward and I simultaneously asked.

"Yes. It's ok Edward," Bella sounding like she wanted to avoid a fight between the two of us. "I'll see you later." She told Edward and exited the mall out the back way with me.

* * *

_**Bella's POV**_

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Jake asked me.

"You know what I want to talk about. You remember what happened last night," I started.

"Jacob," a voice cut into our conversation. Jake and I turned to see Embry, Jared, and Quil advancing towards us.

"What do you guys want?" I asked.

"Sam would like to speak with you, Jake," Jared said ignoring me.

"And since you're so interested in our affairs Ms. Swan you can join him," Quil said grabbing my arm.

"Keep your hands off her!" Jake ordered him with narrowed eyes only to be held back as well.

* * *

_**Max's POV**_

I stood outside the mall waiting for Nudge and her new best friend Alice to come out. Knowing Nudge she's probably tried on everything in the store.

"Hey Max," I heard Nudge call out. I turned around praying that she hadn't talked Alice into buying one of everything from the store. To my eternal relief Nudge was only carrying one bag.

"I hope she went easy on you," I said to Alice.

"You don't have to worry, Max. As you can see I got only one thing." I turned my gaze towards Alice.

"She's telling the truth," she said though for some reason I had a feeling she wasn't telling the truth. Just then something out of the corner of my eye caught my attention and I spun around and slugged the guy right in the chin. My hand stung from the punch and I resisted the urge to yell. What did I hit; a brick wall. The guy that tried to jump me was on the ground rubbing his chin.

"What the Hell?" I asked; hand still burning.

"Edward," Alice said. I looked down and saw it was the guy from before with Bella. I noticed him not only staring intently at me, but Angel as well. She was giving him her own intent stare. Just what was with this guy and starring at people he doesn't even know?

"I think we better go," I said to Nudge and Angel before something bad happened.

"Nice meeting you Alice!" Nudge called back as we left.

* * *

_**Alice's POV**_

"Edward; what was that all about! ?" I scolded him as soon as Max, Tiffany, and Angel left.

"I'm sorry Alice," he apologized. "It's just that."

"It's just what?" I asked putting my hands on my hips.

"I ran into the blonde haired girl several minutes ago. She was thinking of Victoria. I needed to see if she was a vampire," he admitted. "I could also smell Victoria's scent around her."

"So to test your theory you decided to just randomly attack her? Don't you think if she were in league with Victoria she would have tried killing me the second we came in contact?"

"Here's another thing. I tried to read their minds, but when I looked at the small girl, I heard her shout 'get out of my head!' Alice? Alice! ?" Edward waved his hand in front of my face and snapped his fingers, but I was in a whole different world.

* * *

_Victoria landed in the snow, shook some of it off her clothes, and stood up._

_"You certainly live up to your reputation, Max," she said._

_"How do you know about me?" She asked her._

_"I've been around the states; heard things here or there about mutant bird kids. That and your boyfriend runs a blog remember?"_

_"He's not my. Never mind. What do you want from me?"_

_"We have a common enemy. Perhaps we could work together?"_

* * *

"Alice! ? What did you see?" Edward asked assisting me up to my feet.

"It was the same vision, but it was clear this time. It was of Victoria and Max. Victoria wants Max to join her."

**To Be Continued...**


	5. Points of Conflict

**_Bree's POV_**

Thirsty; so very thirsty. I had been sitting in the corner of the warehouse for about 2 hours now just rubbing my cold hands. Riley had been getting increasingly more annoyed in his attempts to get me to drink human blood, but I kept refusing him. It got to the point where he threatened to poison me with tainted blood. I told him to bring it on so he did; he force fed me the blood and I felt incredibly weak and dizzy afterwards. The feeling passed eventually, but now I'm afraid he might do it again.

"Catch," I heard someone say. I reached up and caught a water bottle without even thinking about it. I looked at the bottle and saw it didn't have any water in it. It was blood.

"I told you I'm not…" I started to say.

"Relax. It's not human blood. I drained it from an animal. If you don't drink something you're gonna die," the vampire said to me.

I looked at the bottle then at the vampire. In the end my desire to drink something won and I downed half of the contents of the bottle; some of it dripping down my mouth and onto my clothes. The animal blood didn't fully satisfy the thirst I felt, but it was a start at least.

"Thanks," I said wiping some of the blood from around my mouth."

"You're welcome," he said and started to walk away from me.

"I'm Bree. Bree Tanner," I introduced hoping that would get him to stay and talk a little. He was the first person here who showed any sort of kindness towards me.

"Name's Diego," he said turning around. "A piece of advice; it'd be in your best interest not to continue angering Riley. I've been with him for a while now and he has a bit of a temper."

"You think," I said remembering how he force fed me tainted blood. "So what'd you do to get wrapped up into this?" I asked. Diego walked over to me and sat beside me.

"I killed the leader of a gang. They killed my brother and I wanted revenge," he said to me. "Needless to say I got more than I bargained for, but Riley saved me and offered me 'new life' as he put it."

"Making new friends I see," Riley said appearing before us. He looked down at the bottle I had and narrowed his eyes. "Animal blood," he said.

"I gave it to her," Diego said coming to my defense. "She'll die if she doesn't drink something."

"She'll die if she keeps disobeying orders," Riley threatened looking down at me.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked standing up. Diego put his hand in front of me to keep me back.

"Don't do anything foolish," he warned me.

"If you must know we'll be going on a little trip to Forks, Washington in the coming days. Once Victoria's done with the seven new recruits she's found…"

"What is it, Riley?" Diego asked when he stopped talking.

"Do you smell that?" Riley asked.

"What?" I asked him.

"It smells like... cat," he answered and then raced out the warehouse.

"Wait? Cat?" Diego said, but Riley was already gone.

Once outside Riley started climbing to the top of the warehouse. Once he reached the top he took a deep breath and then caught the scent. He ran as fast as possible; determined to not lose the scent. After a few seconds he caught up with the scent in an alleyway and rolled his eyes in disappointment. He found himself looking at an ordinary cat. He thought for sure it was that girl he met from before when it was pouring down rain.

* * *

**_Mara's POV_**

"That was way too close," I thought as I watched Riley run off. Once I was sure he was gone I exited the other end of the alley. I took out the list of places the Director told me to check and Forks, Washington was on the list. Looks like following that Riley guy was going to pay off after all if those seven new recruits turned out to be six mutant bird kids plus a mutant wolf.

* * *

**_Max's POV_**

"Is everything ok, Max?" Nudge asked me as I rubbed my fist. We were waiting outside the mall for the others and I couldn't take my thoughts off that Edward guy.

"I'm not sure. When I hit Edward, his skin felt like diamonds. It hurt," I told her.

"That's not the only weird thing about him." Angel said.

"Don't tell me you read his mind," I said. Angel really needed to learn that reading the minds of people outside of the flock was an invasion of their privacy. Heck it was an invasion of privacy when the flock was involved as well.

"Actually he tried reading mine," Angel revealed.

"Wait what?" I asked surprised.

"When you hit him he stared at me and then I heard this buzzing noise in my head. I realized he was trying to read my thoughts and I shouted at him to get out of my head," Angel said.

"Well this is a new twist on things," I said. "Do you think The School might've sent them?"

"If that was the case I think they would've tried killing us the second we came into contact with one another," Nudge said.

"Or maybe they're just trying to lure us into a false sense of security," I sighed. Why is it that every time we come into contact with someone that seems nice they are always involved with The School?

"Not every person we've come into contact with has been related to The School," Angel said. "Remember when we were forced to attend the real kind of school? Some of the people there were nice."

"Angel, I am warning you. Stop reading my mind," I ordered her. Just once I wished I could have a private conversation with myself and not worry about Angel telling anybody about it. "And yes I remember the public school as much as I'd like to forget it. It doesn't have the best memories for me."

"Why? Because of the red haired wonder?" Angel asked giving me that sweet, innocent, smile that she usually deployed to keep me from getting upset with her.

"Don't remind me," I muttered. For those of you who don't remember the red haired wonder was that girl that was constantly clinging to Fang during our stay at high school. If it wasn't for the fact that I was in complete denial about how I felt about him plus the whole 'keeping a low profile' crap I would've given her a piece of my mind the minute I saw them kiss.

"Max, who are you talking to?" Angel asked.

"I'm talking to… I thought I told you enough with the mind reading!" I yelled then started to chase Angel around the side walk. Despite being little Angel was pretty fast. I'm fast too, but not on my feet. Angel laughed the entire time and soon I found myself laughing as well.

* * *

**_Fang's POV_**

"Those people sound interesting," I said appearing from behind Nudge. "Do you know where they went?" I asked while watching Max continue to chase Angel. It was rare to ever see that girl with such a legitimatly happy look on her face. It actually made me feel warm inside... actually I think it's that cheeseburger I ate backing up.

"Fang! You are seriously going to give me a heart attack on of these days," Nudge said taking a few breaths. "They left about five minutes ago; headed north. They were driving a Silver Volvo S60R."

"Thanks," I said and with that information I faded from sight.

"I wish I could do that," Nudge thought.

I flew as high as I could then came to a quick halt. I used my raptor vision and began searching for that car. We needed to know if those guys were with The School or not. A minute passed a then I found my target.

"Got you," I thought and rocketed downwards.

* * *

**_Jake's POV_**

"We're here, Jake. Wake up the girl," Embry said to me. I nodded and Embry stepped out of the car. The ride back home was a quiet one. The pack was quiet for the entirety of the drive and Bella stared out the window for most of it until she fell asleep.

"Wake up Bella," I said shaking her slightly.

"How long have I been asleep?" Bella asked me.

"Not long," I answered getting out of the car. We followed Embry, Quil, and Jared through the forest and into the clearing where Sam was waiting. We approached Sam, who met us at the center of the clearing. He held up a hand and the others stopped their advance.

"So Sam; what is it that you want?" I asked. Sam's eyes narrowed and I could see his wolf like teeth for a split second.

"I've been thinking about this for a while now Jacob," he began. "While I believe you when you said that you found Jeff, one thing still puzzles me," he continued while starting to circle me and Bella. I held her close to me in case he made any sudden movements.

"You claim that something took Jeff's body, but my question is what or who for that matter would go to the trouble of removing a dead wolf from where it lay? And then there's the matter of you claiming to have caught another wolf's scent when none of us smelled a thing.

"I told you the scent was already feint; it was going to die out no matter how fast you guys arrived," I said defensively. My hands tightly balled up and I could feel my anger starting to rise.

"Where are you going with this?" I half growled.

"I think you know where I'm going with this Jacob. You know how we all feel about Vampire Girl here," he pointed at Bella. "And we all know how you are blindly devoted to her. What if you decided to wipe out a member of the pack and then claim another member did it in an attempt to get us to turn on each other," he accused.

"Are you serious! ?" I yelled. "I'm just a devoted to the pack as any other member! How could you even think that I would do such a thing! ?"

"Because we're all having a substantially hard time finding what killed Jeff! That's why!" He fired back.

"Jake," Bella said trying to get in between us, but I pushed her back behind me.

"Wait a second, Sam," Embry interrupted. "You never said anything about thinking that Jake was behind this."

"Shut up!" He yelled.

"You can hate me all you want!" Bella yelled pushing herself in front of me. "But that doesn't give you any right to accuse Jacob of something he didn't do!"

"Stay out of this!" He shouted at Bella and brutally shoved Bella away from him; his hand connecting straight with her neck. I saw Bella violently coughing on the ground and my rage began to increase. Jake saw my rage filled stare and actually smiled.

"You want to take a shot kid?" He asked me. My anger reached its boiling point and I changed into a wolf. I leapt at him, but Sam jumped over me; changing into his wolf form at the same time. We circled one another; growling at each other. Then we charged. We roughly collided and then Sam hit me in the nose with his paw. He jumped at my back and sank his teeth into me. I howled out and forced him off of me. I jumped at him, but Sam moved out of the way and slashed at my back. I fell down and then felt Sam's teeth in my back again howled out once more. I forced him off and charged him. Sam dodged my attack to the right. I stopped myself and jumped back in the other direction. Sam dodged my attack and then took a scratch at my eyes. I fell to the ground, but managed to jump back up before he could pounce on me. We sprinted at each other once again and made a hard crash. I tried to bite him, but he was quicker and took a bite at one of my paws. I let out a loud roar and Sam then kicked me off of him. I crashed into the ground and then saw Sam looming in front of me. Teeth exposed at me.

"Stop it, Sam! Stop it!" Bella yelled and then ran in front of me; arms outstretched. "If you want to kill Jake, you'll have to kill me to," she said not moving away from me. Sam looked like he was actually considering killing Bella. I could practically see it in his eyes. But then he changed back to normal shocking all of us.

"Come on," he said to the others and started to walk off. I changed back to normal and could see the worry in Bella's eyes. I must've been really messed up.

Despite the pain I felt I looked at Sam and shouted, "I didn't kill him Sam! I swear it!" Sam only gave me a passing glance and then continued onward. I felt so weak; so lightheaded. I could barely make out Bella saying that I needed a doctor and calling someone on her cell phone. I was just able to hear her mention Alice before I passed out.

* * *

**_Alice's POV_**

We were back at the house. The vision was as plain as day to me now. Victoria was going to ask that Max girl to join her. But why her? More importantly why would Victoria even bother asking someone for their aid? She normally bites first and asks questions later. My thought process was interrupted by my cell phone ringing.

"Hello?"

"Alice, it's Bella," Bella said sounding distressed.

"What's wrong Bella?" I asked her.

"Jake got in a fight with Sam and is pretty beat up. I need Carlisle's help treating his injuries."

"Bella; you know you can't bring Jake here. That would be breaking the truce."

"We don't have to bring him to the house. Anywhere will work," Bella said to me.

"Alice? What is it?" Carlisle asked me.

"It's Jacob. Bella says he's hurt and needs you to treat his injuries." Carlisle looked as unsure as I did.

"Please, Alice," Bella begged and I sighed. "Alright. We'll be there as fast as we can. Make sure you aren't on their territory though," I said and hung up. "Whether we like it or not, Jake's still Bella's friend," I said grabbing my keys. Carlisle made no attempt to argue and followed me out the door. As we walked out of the house I felt myself bump into something. I looked around, but saw nothing.

"Something wrong, Alice?" Carlisle asked me.

"I thought I just bumped into something, but there wasn't anything there," I said as we walked to the car. "Maybe I just imagined it."

* * *

**_Fang's POV_**

I breathed a sigh of relief when that girl kept on walking. Couldn't get caught before I find out what these people were. I snuck into the house just as they shut the door.

"Why do I feel like helping Wolf Boy is only going to backfire on us?" One of them asked. He was bigger than all the rest them, but still had the same skin color. It was pale white and their eyes were all colored coal black.

"I agree with you Emmet…" one of them said, but then stopped in mid-sentence.

"What is it Edward?" One of the women asked him.

"We're not alone in here. Someone's in the house with us."

**To Be Continued…**

**A/N: A mutant bird kid stuck in a house of hungry vampires. Wonder how that will turn out. See ya all next chapter!**


	6. Common Enemy

**A/N: I apologize for taking so long to update. To make up for that I posted two updates instead of just one. Enjoy!**

"We aren't alone. Someone's in the room with us," Edward said.

Shit. How could he know that I'm here? I'm invisible for crying out loud. I tried to keep my breathing steady and slowly made my way for the exit.

"I don't see anything Edward," Emmett commented.

"Shh," Edward hushed. I was maybe three feet from the front door when he sprinted in my direction and seized me by my neck. He threw me with great force and I flew out of the kitchen and landed on the living room table. My head throbbed and then suddenly my invisibility failed on me. Before I could process anything I was being shoved up against the wall.

"Who are you! ? What are you doing here! ?" He shouted at me. I could only stare at the guy's coal black eyes. "I asked you a question! Did Victoria send you! ?" He yelled shoving me into the wall again.

"I don't have any reason to answer to you," I said and kicked him in the chest. He soared away from me and landed next to his family.

I made a dash for the next room, but was cut off by the one who had blonde hair. He swung at me and I only just managed to block his punch, which hurt like hell by the way. I shoved him as far back as possible and jumped over the railing of the stairs avoiding the larger male of the group. The one who attacked me first jumped after me tackling me to the floor. He slammed my face into the floor so hard my head started to spin. He went for another slam and I elbowed him in the throat. The blow stung yet again, but it made him loosen part of his hold.

I ran out of his grip and dove out the window. The glass cut into my skin, but I paid no attention to the cuts and kept on running. One of the others sprinted after me at top speed. My legs ran as fast as they would carry me, but he was a lot faster. He jumped at a tree and pushed himself off to gain more speed. He threw out a kick at my chin and the forest zoomed back for me and came to an abrupt stop when I crashed into a tree, back first.

The tree nearly unearthed itself from the impact. I was hoisted back into the air again and the blonde dude had a ravenous look on his face. He opened his mouth and went to bite me. I panicked and slammed my head straight into his. I was dropped to the floor though my head felt like it was ready to split wide open. Still I ran before this guy could continue his assault. I immediately tried blending in with my surroundings as I heard the sound of more people racing after me, but my head hurt so much I couldn't stay hidden.

In the end I said 'fuck it!' I whipped out my wings not caring if they saw them or not and took off just avoiding being cut off again. I flew as high and fast as possible breaking through the trees and flying as far away from the forest as I could. Just who were those people? They were practically stronger than the Erasers. I've never felt so exhausted from a fight before since my scuffle with Ari all those months ago. Well whoever they were they were big trouble for sure.

* * *

_**Jasper's POV**_

I watched the mysterious boy blast through the trees and out of my sight. His scent grew fainter with every second. I knew it would be pointless to try and chase after him now thanks to his advantage of flight. The wind picked up behind me and Emmett and Edward were now standing by my side.

"Where is he?" Edward asked. I looked at his neck and saw the cracks starting to heal.

"You're hurt," I observed.

"So are you?" Edward replied. "How was this possible?"

"It's obvious he isn't an ordinary human. Not only does he possess great strength and the ability to turn invisible, but he can also fly."

"You want to run that by me again?" Emmett asked.

"I said he can fly. How else do you think I could've lost him?" I asked my brother. Emmett had no answer for this and I looked at Edward. He seemed to be deep in thought. "Something wrong?"

"That boy. He smelled like someone else I ran into earlier today at the mall; a girl. She punched me in the jaw and it hurt me. Not only that, but I smelled Victoria's scent on both her and faintly on him. What's more Alice had a vision of Victoria trying to recruit them."

At this revelation something popped in my head. "The army," I whispered.

"What about them?" Emmett asked.

"All this time we thought Riley Biers would be the one leading the attack. We never even stopped to consider who changed Riley in the first place," I stated to the two. The realization sunk in with both of them.

"It all makes sense now. That explains why Alice never saw Victoria in her visions of the vampire army. Victoria has been using Riley to lead them in an effort to keep Alice of her back."

"If Victoria gets to them, their strength will be magnified if they are turned," Emmett said.

"She already has made contact with them," Edward said. "There's no mistaking her scent."

"So what are we going to do about it?" Emmett questioned.

"There's only one thing we can do," I said. "It's them or us. We're going to have to kill them."

"Are you sure that's the only way?" Edward asked me.

"Given how we just tried killing one of their own, I severely doubt they will listen to reason."

* * *

_**Bella's POV**_

I had to half carry the semi-conscious Jake to the edge of La Push so Carlisle and Alice wouldn't be breaking the treaty when the arrived. They were already waiting for us upon our arrival. Carlisle took us to Forks High, which was deserted. That would make things a lot easier for us. After 'letting' ourselves in, Carlisle took Jacob to the nurse's office and began working on his injuries.

"You're lucky to be in one piece considering how you went up against the Alpha of your pack," he said.

"Just lucky I guess," Jacob mumbled. In no time at all, Jacob's injuries were treated. According to Carlisle he'd make a recovery in no time at all. But until then he should take things easy.

"Thanks Carlisle," I said,

"You're very welcome Bella," he replied.

"Guys. Can I speak to Jacob for a minute?" I asked. Alice and Carlisle nodded and left the two of us alone. Once they left, Jacob attempted to get up.

"Hold it Jacob. You might be able to heal fast, but you're still recovering," I said gently pushing him back down. "And what were you thinking! Fighting Sam like that! He could've killed you and from the look I saw on his face he almost did!" I angrily shouted at him.

"I'm sorry, but it's hard to control my power when I get upset or angry. I know it was stupid of me. When he hit you I just lost it." I felt my temper cool down and I rested a hand on Jake's shoulder.

"Just don't do anything like that ever again," I requested of him. "You're special to me Jake and I don't want to see you get hurt."

* * *

**_Edward's POV_**

We spent the next two hours hunting for the mysterious teen and his friends. Their scents were hard to track. Every time we got close it quickly moved away from us. Whenever I tried to scan for their minds all I got was this weird buzzing noise in my head like from earlier when that small girl shouted at me to get out of her head.

"Sorry we're late coming back," I apologized to Rosalie and Esme. "We've been trying to find the intruder and… who are you?" I asked. Standing at the kitchen table with Rosalie and Esme was a girl I've never seen before.

"She said her name is Mara," Esme said.

"She came while you boys were out having all the fun," Rosalie replied to us.

"What are you doing here if I might ask?" Jasper asked her.

"I'm looking for these people," she said laying out 8 photos on the table. I recognized two of the pictures instantly.

"I've seen them before. Just who are they?" I asked.

"A group of fugitives I've been given the task of tracking down. I can't disclose all of the details though I can tell you they're all the result of a freak experiment. These seven all have the ability to fly. This one in particular is half human and half wolf. They all possess great strength and are a danger if not caught."

"I saw one of them two hours ago," I revealed to her. I don't know if they're still in Forks though."

"As long as they don't know I'm in town, they have no reason to leave. Thank you for the assistance," Mara said and left the house. I scanned her mind and she appeared to be telling the truth.

"I have to find Alice," I said heading for the door.

"What for?" Rosalie asked.

"She had a vision of Victoria asking them to join her. She's the one who's leading the army of newborns. We can't let her get to them, but we're unable to locate them. Alice can help us with that," I said and sprinted for Forks.

* * *

**_Max's POV_**

Great. Just great. All we need now are more people trying to hunt us down. Two hours ago Fang came crashing back into our hiding spot, literally I might add, and relayed the information he gathered. Whoever that Edward guy was he didn't seem to like Victoria much. About 30 minutes later, Angel warned us that he and two others were hunting us through the forest. Rather than just fly out of Forks, however, I suggested we at least try and through them off our tracks for the moment. While the flock took care of that I went back into town to see if I could find Victoria. I remembered how her skin looked very similar to Edward's and Alice's. Maybe she knows something about them. But my search turned out to be a lost cause. I asked around nearly the entire town. Now I'm back in the forest tacking a short break. I'm hoping to the Heavens above that these guys aren't products of the School or anything. I decided to go and stretch out my wings for a bit when something shot out of the woods into the clearing and forced me into the snow.

"Heard you've been looking for me," Victoria said.

"Now I'm not so sure I'm glad I found you," I responded and kicked her off me. Victoria somehow balanced herself in the air and easily landed in the snow. She was at me again and I stopped her next punch. I kicked her feet out from under her making her lose her balance. Before she could connect with it, I caught her jacket and swung her towards the trees. I didn't allow her the opportunity to balance herself out again and I jumped straight at her. I unfurled my wings allowing me to blast full speed at her and we collided mid-air. She and I slid into the snow and Victoria threw me off her. I kept myself steady with my wings and sped back at her. I used the speed from my flight and connected my foot with the side of her face as hard as I could. Victoria crashed into a nearby tree and the thing toppled over completely. I shook out my stinging foot as Victoria got out of the snow.

"You certainly live up to your reputation Maximum Ride," she said.

"Glad you aren't disappointed," I said still in combat mode. "Just how do you know about me anyway?"

"I've been around the states; heard things here or there about mutant bird kids. That and your boyfriend runs a blog remember?

"He's not my. Never mind. What do you want and why did you attack me for that matter?"

"I attacked you to see how well you'd fair against a person of my kind. You left quite a mark," she said pointing to the side of her face. My eyes widened at the site of it being cracked. The cracks were healing even as we spoke.

"What I want from you is simple. You and I share a common enemy. Perhaps we could work together?"

"Who are you talking about?"

"You're 'boyfriend' was attacked by them. They call themselves the Cullens."

"What's so dangerous about them?" I asked her.

"They're just like me. Vampires."

I was close to making a remark about how blatantly absurd that was, but I'm a kid that has giant wings growing out her freaking back. Not only that, but a member of my group can change into wolf, so I bit my tongue.

"I've been watching you from a distance Max. From someplace the Cullens can't follow. I know they're hunting you and you're friends since they caught Fang spying on them. They won't stop till they've killed you. That's the number one rule in our world. Keep your identity a secret."

"So why aren't you killing me then?"

"I've never been one to play by the rules. The Cullens are though. Plus it'd be a waste to kill someone of your talents Max. We work together and we can defeat the Cullen clan."

"Sorry, but this is a lot for me to take in all at once," I said to Victoria.

"I understand. Think it over. I'll be watching," and Victoria disappeared into the woods.

**To Be Continued…**


	7. Two Different Clans

**_Bella's POV_**

Jake dozed off following our short conversation. I decided to let him rest a bit and then take him back to La Push.

No sooner did I remember that Charlie doesn't know I'm with Jake and to call him, did Edward appear in the room with a worried look on his face.

"We've got trouble," he warned.

"Edward. What are you doing here?" Alice asked stepping inside the nurse's office.

"You remember that girl from the mall?" He asked her.

"You mean Max? Yes I do. Why?" Alice asked.

"One of her friends was at the house. We fought and he managed to hurt both me and Jasper. Not only that, but he can apparently fly."

"Fly? That's kind of ridiculous Edward," I said.

"Says the girl standing in the room with two vampires and a werewolf," Jacob dryly joked strring awake.

"There's more though. A woman came to our house. She says they're a group of wanted fugitives. I read her mind and she appeared to be telling the truth."

"Max seemed so nice," I said to Edward.

"Appearances can be deceiving," Alice said. "I haven't told you this, but you remember that vision I told you about earlier. Max and Victoria were the two women in it."

"We got it all wrong. Victoria is the one leading the army; not Riley like we previously believed. If Victoria changes them their strength will be magnified by who knows how much. Jasper, Emmett, and I have been hunting for them, but have had no luck. There are eight of them; the eighth being half human and half wolf. They are somewhere in the forest from what we know."

_Wolf_, Jake thought. He flashed back to when Ari bumped into him. I saw Jacob's grip increase on the table. I thought for a moment he was going to snap off the edge of it. He shot up and was back on his feet.

"Jacob? What are you?" I started to ask.

"It's him. He's the one that killed Jeff," he said walking towards the exit.

"Jake, wait," I said trying to stop him. "You're still healing. You can't possibly."

"Stand aside, Bella," he ordered.

"No," I said standing between him and the exit. I wasn't sure what the hell I was doing trying to stop him, but I couldn't let him rush off and get killed. "You're not thinking straight."

"He killed a member of my pack!" Jake snapped.

"Don't yell at her!" Edward sneered and I had to step in his path to keep him back.

"Don't follow me," Jake ordered.

"Jake, please," I tried one more time. I knew Jake could see the pleading in my eyes, but that wasn't enough.

"Bella; I won't ask you to stand aside again," Jake said slightly calmer.

"Do you want to die! ?" Edward shouted.

"This is none of your concern, Cullen!" Jake practically growled anger rising again. He shoved Edward across the room. He crashed into the window and fell outside. By the time he was back up, Jake was already running out the front door. With his speed he'd be in the forest in minutes.

"I have to go after him," I said starting to run to the exit.

"He made his choice, Bella, and now he's going to have to live with it," Edward said cutting me off.

"I can't just let him go."

"Why do you care so much about him?" Edward asked noticeably agitated.

"He's still my friend Edward," I answered crossing my arms. Edward sighed and turned his back to me.

"Get on," he said pointing to his back. I climbed onto him and locked my arms around his neck. Edward dashed out the front door.

* * *

_**Max's POV**_

That certainly was a lot for me to take all at once. Assuming Victoria was telling me the truth that is. I have yet to make up my mind about her offer and it's been about 15 minutes since she left me here. I must admit it'd certainly be nice to have some back up when dealing with this whole hunting crap me and the flock have been subjected to since escaping from The School. My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a roar from within the trees.

"Ari?" I called out. I looked around, but didn't see any trace of him. "Ari, if you're trying to scare me," my words were cut off and replaced by my high pitched screams. I felt something razor sharp biting into my back. I reached behind my back and grabbed whatever it was and yanked it off.

"Ahhh!" I screamed as I felt part of my flesh getting ripped me. I put my hand to my side and saw blood, but the real pain I felt was in my… wings? Son of a bitch! That thing bit my wing! I whipped around and saw the thing that attacked me was… a wolf? A massive wolf just like the one that Ari found days ago. The wolf growled at me and lunged at me. I tried to take off, but the pain in my wing was too great. The wolf tackled me to the ground and pinned me down. It exposed its teeth at me; ready to strike. This wolf looked angry; not invading its territory angry, but 'this is personal' angry.

_This girl has the wolf's scent all over here, _Jake thought.

The wolf looked like it wasready to tear out my throat when another loud roar sounded through the field. Seconds later the wolf went flying off me. I looked up and saw Ari wrestling with it in the snow. Ari sank his claws into its back and the wolf howled out in pain. It finally managed to force Ari off his back and the two of them stared each other down. Ari furiously growled at the wolf and took a step forward; his opponent doing the same. They lashed out at the same time and Ari cut it across the nose. The wolf whimpered and jumped at Ari taking a bite at his side.

Ari groaned out and yanked its jaws off his skin. He ignored the pain he felt and charged again. He leapt over the wolf and sliced his claws right through the wolf's back. It fell and slid through the snow. It fought to stand up, but it was clear the wolf was in agony. Ari ran at it again; the stubborn wolf doing the same. The wolf jumped and propelled itself at Ari, who ducked beneath it and tackled it right through the chest. They landed in the snow with Ari on top. He put his fists together and slammed them into the wolf's face. He separated them and lashed out twice at its face then proceeded to put his hand into the wolf's mouth and began to try and rip open its jaw. The wolf suddenly knocked Ari off him and was miraculously back on its feet. This thing is either really stubborn or really stupid.

* * *

**Bella's POV**

"How much further?" I asked Edward as we raced through the trees. Jacob had somehow managed to through off Edward making us get lost for a good few minutes.

"We should be coming up on his position now," Edward told me leaping off a tree and into the snow. We ran into a clearing and the first thing we saw was Jacob crashing in front of us.

"Jacob!" I screamed kneeling by his side. His body was bloody and completely scratched up. A soft growl left his lips and he transformed back to normal; he looked even worse than when Sam defeated him if that's possible. "Stay with me Jake; stay with me," I pleaded trying to keep him conscious.

"Bella," he whispered then his eyes shut.

"Jacob? Jacob! ?"

* * *

**3****rd**** person**

Edward looked at Bella and directed his gaze at Ari. "You want to end up like your friend?" Ari asked cracking his knuckles.

Edward exposed his teeth and quickly dashed Ari landing a punch straight in his heart. Ari soared backwards and crashed into the snow; hand gripping his heart. "Alright; so you're not a pushover," he groaned struggling upward.

Edward looked dumfounded. He put almost everything he had into that punch; No human could withstand that. Of course this guy was no ordinary human though. Edward and Ari circled one another and charged. Edward slid under the kick Ari aimed for his neck and slammed his fist into Ari's spine. He yelled out in pain and tumbled forward into the ground. Ari clamped down on his teeth and pushed himself up standing in front of Jake and Bella. Forgetting that he was in unbearable pain Jake tried to stand.

"Jake, please stay down!" Bella begged him, but Jake ignored her. Ari threw out a punch and Jake's jaw; his head snapped to the right and blood flew out of his mouth. He fell into the snow and his body went limp.

"You bitch!" Bella cursed and tried to hit Ari. He stopped her fist and hit her in the nose. Edward felt his anger rise to new heights and felt himself rush Ari at top speed. He was only a few inches away from the unsuspecting Eraser when Fang materialized from nowhere and landed a kick directly in Edward's right eye. Edward flew back and crashed in the ground. Edward shut his eye from the pain and couldn't open it.

"You helped me," A shocked Ari said.

"Don't ask me why," Fang said as the rest of the flock landed near him. They all ran over to Max's side while Edward ran over to Bella, who was still tending to Jacob. He saw how he was outnumbered and yet he was not going to run away.

"Edward!" He heard Alice call out; she along with Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper appeared from the forest at his side. Jasper had a ravenous look on his face at all the blood that was spewing out of Jacob's body.

"Focus Jasper," Alice said to him and he slowly took his gaze away from Jacob. The two clans eyed each other; waiting for the other to make the first move. In the end it was the Gasman that went on attack. Emmett raced forward to meet him halfway; they both took fighting stances, but Emmett ended up dropping his.

"Wait, I can't fight a kid," he said.

"Hey. Who are you calling a kid?" Gassy asked in a deep voice. He jumped up, locked his knees against Emmet's neck, flew into the air and shot down; driving Emmet's head into the ground. The Gasman's moment of triumph was cut short when he Rosalie ran at him and rammed her knee into his chin. He saw stars and flew back into Iggy's arms.

"Are you alright?" he asked him.

"If count feeling like you got hit by a sledgehammer then sure," He said rubbing his injured chin. Iggy stared daggers at Rosalie (sort of) and ran at her.

"Iggy wait!" Max shouted, but it was too late. Rosalie threw a punch at Iggy's right temple, but a quick warning from Angel and he blocked it. He thrust his foot into her knee making her sink into the snow. Iggy uppercut Rosalie and she flew back to the Cullens; with that the fighting recommenced. Max and Fang both leapt at Edward, but he jumped into the air as well; throwing his fists into their chests.

Fang stopped his fall thanks to his wings, but the injured Max crashed back down to earth below. He soared back at Edward nailing him in the chest and followed up aiming a punch where his ribs would be. Edward groaned from the blow and backhanded Fang in his teeth. Fang almost felt like one of his teeth got knocked out of his mouth. He pushed himself out of the snow; mouth bleeding. The scent of his blood filled and overwhelmed Jasper's nostrils. He tossed Nudge to the side and madly ran in Fang's direction. Fang saw him running, but before he could do anything he found himself being hoisted into the air by the frenzied vamp.

'_Drop him.'_ A voice in Jasper's head ordered. He relinquished his grip on Fang and turned around to meet the not-so-innocent eyes of Angel. Jasper's crazed look changed to a frightened one. He could feel something trickling down his nose and saw that it was his own blood. Jasper felt dizzy and then his world fell back as he fainted. Angel brandished a wicked smile, which disappeared when Alice sped into the scene and delivered a bicycle kick at Angel's face launching her into a tree. Angel grunted from the impact and fell into a gorge just behind the tree.

Nudge suddenly shot onto Alice's back and boar her fingers into Alice's eyes. Alice screeched from the feeling and tried with all her vampire might to pry her off. Nudge refused to let go and tightened her grip on Alice. Max took advantage of this and flipped over to Alice and rained a plethora of punches into her chest. Alice felt her multiple sections of her chest to crack and blindly tried to kick Max, but missed. Edward punched Fang in the nose breaking it and raced off to help Alice. Suddenly there was a flash of red and then Edward felt someone's hand lock around his neck.

"Miss me Edward?" Victoria whispered; arms tightening around his neck.

"You," he seethed and butted the back of his head into Victoria making her release him. Victoria flipped backwards and leapt up into a tree.

As the fight raged on Jake finally started to regain his consciousness. "Jake; I thought you were dead," Bella said giving him a small hug. She heard Alice's screams finally cease and saw that Emmet had ripped Nudge off of her head and that Rosalie was facing off with Max.

Max evaded Rosalie's blow and punched her in the right cheek. She then backhanded her left cheek and uppercut her chin. Rosalie stumbled back; however, she dodged Max's roundhouse kick and drove her elbow into her shoulder almost dislocating it. She grabbed Max and ran forward into the nearest tree. The ground shook and Max knocked Rosalie away from her. The both lashed out and their hands locked together making the ground shake again.

"Bella," Jake whispered; his world fading in and out.

"I need to get you out of here." She gently helped him to his feet and tried to escort him from the battlefield.

From up in the tree Victoria's eyes met Bella's.

"Swan," she seethed.

Edward looked from Bella to Victoria and gasped. They both moved at the same time, but Edward proved to be the faster; he pushed himself against the tree and knocked it into the gorge. Victoria held on as it fell. The tree crashed into the snow shaking her off it and into the gorge. Victoria suddenly heard two growls and saw two wolves lunging for her.

"Should've figured they'd smell and find me eventually," she thought. Victoria dodged them both and climbed out of the gorge just as another wolf pack member jumped at her. The wolf, however, didn't reach her as another wolf collided with it and they toppled into the gorge.

"What the hell are those wolves' problem?" Max asked as Ari body slammed another into the snow.

"There'll be more coming; we have to retreat before they show up," Victoria advised Max. Max heard more wolves howling in the forest and realized that Victoria was telling the truth.

"Guys! Up and away!" Max ordered. A bloodied Fang looked at Max and then at Edward.

"We'll finish this some other time," he said and head butted Edward before taking off into the sky. Ari cut across Emmet's chest and blasted off into the sky with Angel, Gasman, and Iggy taking off after him. Alice and Nudge gave one another one final glare before she took off after her family.

"Can you fly?" Victoria asked Max.

"Not yet. My wing needs time to heal," she informed her. The other pack members finally arrived in the fray and directed their advance at the two women.

"No time! Run!" Victoria quickly said and rushed off into the forest; Max following behind.

**To Be Continued…**


End file.
